Residents across Bath and North East Somerset are being praised for their “fantastic efforts” to recycle during the COVID-19 lockdown, ahead of Recycle Week 2020.
April, May and June saw huge increases in the amount of recycling collected by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s waste teams, including:
- Glass recycling increased by 43% to 1950 tonnes
- Card recycling increased by 38% to 1169 tonnes
- Cans & plastics recycling increased by 28% to 875 tonnes
- Food waste recycling increased by 22% to 1963 tonnes
Residents are now being encouraged to ‘keep up the good work’ during Recycle Week which runs from Monday 21st – Sunday 27th September.
Organised by the resource efficiency charity WRAP, #Recycle Week is supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council. The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Together – We Recycle’.
Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for Climate Emergency and Neighbourhood Services said: “During the most challenging of years it’s fantastic news that people are recycling more.
“The huge increase in cardboard recycling is down to the fact that more of us have been shopping online and receiving home deliveries, but what I find really encouraging is that people are now thinking carefully about how they dispose of their food waste.
“Food waste can have a big impact big impact on the environment as if it’s not recycled it rots and releases methane, which is a damaging greenhouse gas.
“All the recycled food waste we collect is put to good use and converted into electricity. If every home in Bath and North East Somerset recycled its food, it would create enough electricity to power 1140 homes for a year. So please keep up the good work!
“We can all make a difference and every single person that recycles their waste is helping tackle the climate emergency, by saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank our recycling and waste key workers who carried on working during lockdown while the world slowed down around them.”
